Questions coaches ask

Yes. Do it from the item’s page.

• Open the item: Inventory, then the item, like Singlet #12 M. If it’s on the shelf, tap Hand out.
• Pick the athlete: type a name and pick from the list. Each name shows how many items that athlete has out or overdue.
• Check the due date: it starts at your team default. Tap change to pick another date or No due date.
• Size warning: if the athlete already has that type out in another size, the page asks first.
• Undo: the page has an Undo button for 10 minutes, for the coach who did it, as long as nothing has happened to the item since.
• Already out: Reassign on a checked-out item uses the same name search. For a coach or a location, use the scanner.
• Not from the page: lost, retired and keep items. For a lost one, tap Found it first.

Walkthrough: Hand Out Gear on Issue Day

Yes. A parent or assistant can scan on their own phone with a volunteer link. No account needed.

Make a link: Settings > Volunteer links. Enter their name, pick what they can do, and how long it lasts (1, 6, 12 or 24 hours). A link never lasts longer than a day. Show them the QR code or send the link. It works on the first phone that opens it, and you can revoke it any time.

What they can do:

• Issue: hand gear out, swap a size for one on the shelf, hand over a staged bag.
• Return: check gear back in, including the “Can’t scan?” lookup.
• Stage: scan items into athletes’ bags before issue day. Only if you tick it.

What they see: athlete names and how many items each athlete has out or overdue.

What they don’t see or do:

• No costs, family contacts or emails.
• No dashboard, reports or settings.
• Can’t trade sizes between two athletes or take an item out of another athlete’s bag.
• Can’t set due dates. Their hand-outs get your team’s default.
• Can’t attach or replace labels.

Walkthrough: Hand Out Gear on Issue Day

The scanner does. Equipment rooms and gym basements often have no signal, so it’s built for that.

• Scans are saved on the phone and sent when signal comes back. The scanner shows “Saving…” until they’re in.
• The athlete list works offline from a copy the phone keeps. It says “Offline. Roster from 10:42 AM.”
• Open the scanner once while you’re online first, so the phone has that copy.
• Scans need to reach the server within 48 hours. Older ones are set aside to scan again.

Offline, a scanned item shows just its code until it syncs. You can’t add a new athlete offline. Everything else in GearCorral (dashboard, reports, emails) needs a connection.

No. Families never log in. GearCorral has no family accounts, so everything a family does works from a link in an email.

• Gear emails go to the contacts on the athlete (up to 3), when you send them. Nothing is sent on its own.
• Acknowledge: a button on the receipt to confirm they got it.
• I returned something: a link in the email to tell you what they dropped off.
• Sizes: a sizing link you send before issue day. The family searches for their athlete’s name and enters sizes.
• Stop gear emails: a link in every email. It only stops gear email from your team.

More: Send Family Gear Emails

Yes. Item types are yours to define. Each sport template starts with that sport’s uniform (football starts with helmet, shoulder pads, jerseys and pants) and offers extras like warm-ups, team bags and team T-shirts.

Each type is tracked one of three ways:

• Returnable: labeled, scanned out and back in. Uniforms, warm-ups, bags.
• Keep: the athlete keeps it, like a team T-shirt. You just record who got one.
• Tracked by count: no labels. You record how many of each size you own and who has them.

Gear can also be held by a coach or a location, not just an athlete. Templates cover football, basketball, volleyball, soccer, baseball, softball, wrestling, lacrosse, track & field and cross country, plus a Custom one if you’d rather start blank.

Add or edit types in Settings > Item types.

Every GearCorral label has a QR code that is a web link.

• Anyone can scan it: a parent, a bus driver, another school’s coach. They point an ordinary phone camera at the label. No app, no account, no login.
• What they see: a page with your team’s name, the item (like Singlet #12, size M) and your return instructions.
• What they don’t see: the athlete’s name or any family contact details.
• If the label won’t scan: they can type gearcorral.com/g/ followed by the 7-character code printed next to the QR.
• Set your return instructions in Settings, for example “Return to Coach Smith in the athletic office, Mon-Thu 3:15-4:00.” If you leave it blank, the page says to get it back to a coach at your team.

Nothing is deleted. When your team’s season ends (or the free period ends and you haven’t started a season), GearCorral goes read-only. Start a new season or get the School Pass and you pick up where you left off. Prices are on the pricing page.

Still works:

• Viewing the dashboard, inventory, Still out, reports and the obligations list.
• Checking gear in, from the scanner’s Return tab or an item’s page.
• Audits.
• The page anyone sees when they scan a lost uniform’s label.
• Families’ “I returned something” links.

Needs an active season:

• Handing out gear and staging bags.
• Printing labels and spare labels.
• Sending family emails and reminders. Unsent ones keep waiting until your next season starts.
• Changing due dates.
• Volunteer links.

It depends on the gear.

• Jerseys and warm-ups: we recommend ordering DTF transfers from a transfer shop (use the DTF sheet download).
• Doing it yourself: print on INKJET “dark fabric” (opaque) transfer paper, even for white jerseys, so the QR has a white background on any color. Use pigment ink if you can, cut close but keep the white margin around the QR, and iron at the paper’s lowest setting on polyester. Test one first.
• How long DIY labels last: DTF should last the life of the garment. DIY heat transfers may need to be redone per season. Use Reprint label when one wears.
• Avoid laser transfer paper on performance polyester: it usually needs higher heat, which can scorch or cause sublimated colors to bleed.
• Bags and hard gear: Avery sticker sheets or laminated hang tags.
• Placement: put labels on the inside hem or near the tag to reduce wear.

You can still find the item, and fixing the label keeps its history.

Right now:

• Type the code. The 7-character code is printed next to the QR. Type it in the box under the scanner’s camera.
• Look it up. On the Return tab, open Can’t scan? and pick the type, number and size. You’ll see who has each match.

For next time: open the item and tap Replace label.

• Print this label again: same code, fresh print.
• Use a spare label: put a pre-printed spare on it. The old code still finds the item.

Someone who finds a lost uniform with a faded QR can type gearcorral.com/g/ followed by the code.

More: Spare Labels and Replacing a Worn Label. Which labels hold up best: How should I put QR labels on uniforms and gear?

A sizing link never lists the whole roster. A family types part of their name, and the matches show a first name and last initial, like “Sam R.”

• Similar names: when two matches would look the same, GearCorral shows more of the last name until they differ. Joe Smith and Joe Sampson show as “Joe Sm.” and “Joe Sa.”
• Exactly the same name: two athletes named Joe Smith show as “Joe Smith (1)” and “Joe Smith (2)”. The family should check with the coach before picking one.
• Picked the wrong athlete? A size already on file only changes after the coach approves it, so a mix-up won’t overwrite a size that’s already set. The coach can fix it on the Sizes needed page.

One team. When two sports use the same uniforms in different seasons, put them on one GearCorral team, with a name like “Cross Country and Track”.

• Between seasons: click Start a new season on the dashboard. You choose what happens to gear that’s still out, keep the roster or start fresh, and name the new season.
• Same tags: every QR tag keeps working in the new season, so there’s nothing to reprint.
• History stays together: each item’s issues and returns from both sports stay on the one team.

Use Move only to hand gear to another team for good, like giving spare warm-ups to a team that plays in the same season. Moved gear belongs to the other team after that, and its past issues and returns stay with the team it came from.